Democrat Party Not to Support Jokowi or Prabowo

Jakarta (Antara) - The ruling Democrat Party has decided not to support Joko Widodo (Jokowi) or Prabowo Subianto in the presidential election on July 9. "The final decision however is put in the hands of the general chairman and also chairman of the party's Supreme Council," President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as the party's chairman said reading the results of the party's leadership meeting here on Sunday. Yudhoyono however said the party's preference was that it would not side meaning it would not join any of the two camps - the Jokowi or Prabowo camps." With the decision, he said, it did not mean that Democrat Party cadres would become absentee voters in the upcoming election. "Cadres would vote a candidate with a platform similar to that of the Democrat Party," he said. Yudhoyono meanwhile said that based upon a survey on participants of the meeting it was found that 56 percent of them had chosen not to join any of the current candidates but there were also other options although their percentages were very small. He said "if the Democrat Party is not in the government in the next five years that would be better as we could even seriously improve our party and cadres while at the same time listening to productive criticisms from the public." He said if the party would really be outside the government it would however keep fighting for the interests of the people. "In the parliament, the Democrat Party could become an effective, smart and critical balancing power to assure that the government's policies are really rational and pro-people," he said. Jakarta governor Joko Widodo and former army special forces commander Prabowo Subianto, respectively from the Indonesia Democratic Party Struggle (PDIP) and the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) have so far been confirmed to take part in the presidential election on July 9, although they until now still have yet to determine their running mates. The Golkar Party, the runner up of the legislative elections on April 9, meanwhile in a leadership meeting on Sunday, decided to extend the nomination of its general chairman, Aburizal Bakrie, as the party's presidential candidate to also cover a vice presidential candidacy. Aburizal Bakrie was also given a mandate to determine the party's direction with regard to the presidential election. So far Golkar has not yet decided which party (parties) it would coalesce with for the election. (*) reporting by azis kurmala